Many of today's sofas consist of modular units abutted against each other into the desired arrangement. Additionally, one of the modules may, for example, include a sofa bed and another, a reclining mechanism allowing that module to be placed into TV or advanced reclining positions with a footrest extended. Although sofas are often placed against a wall in a room, it has been necessary in conventional modular sofas including reclining mechanisms, to place the backrest at least about three inches from the wall in order to ensure that the backrest does not strike the wall when the module is placed into reclining position. Conventional wall-avoiding mechanisms for reclining chairs including average-size backrests require about a three inch clearance as stated, and in order to reduce the wall clearance, it has been necessary shorten the length of the backrest. However, the latter detracts from back support and styling capabilities.
An example of the prior art appears in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,350,387, issued Sept. 21, 1986 which discloses a "gravity-loaded" reclining chain which may be placed adjacent to or about three inches from a nearby wall without striking the wall upon reclining movement. Although this mechanism has been commercially accepted, the advent of modular sofas described above, has created today a need for a reclining chair mechanism that may incorporate a backrest of average length and yet may be placed virtually against or in contact with an adjacent wall and will be operable to reclining positions without interference from the wall. In the present context, an average length of backrest is about twenty-five inches from the top of the seat plane at its rear to the top of the backrest. The present invention may therefore be viewed as an improvement over the mechanism disclosed in my prior patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,350,387.